[VIDEO] South Thomas Drive CRA Complete

Short of a bit of landscaping and some finish work, the South Thomas Drive CRA is complete! They’ve been working on this project since September of 2009 and regardless of delays, setbacks and disappointed expectations, the improvements look awesome. So, before you start flaming off in the comments about how you know how to run a project of this magnitude so much better and how if YOU were running it it would have been all perfect, just go take a drive through there and enjoy it. It’s really fantastic.

I won’t spend a whole lot of time walking you through what they did, as we’ve discussed that in great length here, here and here – so let’s get right to the video!

New Walmart Construction Update 1

The new Walmart going in next to Pier Park is heavy underway and great progress can be seen on daily basis. If you remember the parcel where Walmart will be, you’ll probably remember it was largely vacant but bordered with tree cover. The tree cover was heavy enough so that you couldn’t really see around the corner at the Powell Adams and Back Beach Road intersection. Well, not so now!

I’ll be the first to admit, the construction of a new Walmart in Panama City Beach isn’t exactly a riveting sight to be seen. It’s sort of like watching grass grow during the early phases since a lot of the work being done for the first half of the construction tenure is ground work. But as things start moving, we’ll show you more pix – and we hope that as we follow the timeline, the progress will seem at least a little interesting. 😉

Aerial Google Map of what it was.

This was captured today and shows an image of what the property looked like before any construction was begun. The parking lot in the upper left corner belongs to Target, the neighborhood on the right of the image is Summerwood with Palmetto Trace being right across the street (Back Beach Road) from there.

Taken from the NE, looking SW

This image was taken from the south side of Back Beach Road, looking towards the south (technically), but facing a little west. The condo on the right in the image is Calypso with Aqua on the left. You can see a little smidge of Target on the far right middle of the image. This picture is likely looking over where an outparcel will be.

Looking at NW corner of the Walmart parcel

This image was taken to show how clearly you can now see around this corner. Before there was heavy tree covering hear and it was difficult to see around the corner. Now you can see straight across. I’m not one for cutting down a bunch of trees, but it is nice to be able to see through this intersection much more clearly now.

Another view of the NW corner of the Walmart parcel

This view shows you how clear that corner is now. When construction is complete, this particular intersection will be signalized and should be much safer than it now is.

View from the NW looking SE

In this image, we’re looking from the NW corner of the Walmart parcel next to Pier Park. The image is facing the southeast. The building you see in the very middle (next to the truck) is Legacy by the Sea, the you have Origin at Seahaven, Sunrise Beach then Emerald Beach Resort. You can see the vastness of the property in this image and just how much land has been cleared. We are likely looking over an outparcel in this shot.

The widened view down Powell Adams

As discussed, along with a new Walmart, Panama City Beach is getting an advanced treatment to Powell Adams Road that the CRA wouldn’t be able to perform for years. We’ll have an update on the completion of the South Thomas Drive CRA in a couple days, which will give you an idea of how this stretch of road will look and feel. For someone who just traveled the newly improved South Thomas Drive yesterday, we’ll be in for a real treat here. This shot shows the preparation for making the widening provisions.

Construction entrance to the project

Maybe this is the norm nowadays, but I thought this was particularly cool. They have a “zone” where exiting vehicles are washed while resting on a bed of large rocks to help minimize the amount of soil that exits the property and is deposited on the roadways.

Looking NE from the SW

This shot looks form the southwest looking towards the northeast. The water was actually from the legacy pond that has been formed over the years this property sat vacant. I’m not sure whether this will be used as a retention pond or if it will be filled in. This is the back part of the parcel.

Wicked Good Food at the Wicked Wheel

There’s a new restaurant in town, but it’s ran by some of the most seasoned dining veterans in Panama City Beach. Having been in the works for nearly 2 years, The Wicked Wheel Bar and Grill opened in April and is serving “the best fried chicken and the biggest burgers on the beach.”

“The theme itself and the vision had been life long. The actual getting-it-custom takes time, and we were not willing to sacrifice quality to get it open any sooner,” said Jared Knetzer of The Wicked Wheel.

The Wicked Wheel is owned and operated by the same that own Pineapple Willy’s – the Buskell family. They are located right on Middle Beach Road (Hutchison) a few doors down (to the west) from Walmart and right across from Miracle Strip Loop. There used to be a Tony Roma’s there, years ago.

Their fried chicken.

I’ll be honest, I’m not much of a fried chicken guy. Not that I don’t like that funky fowl – quite the opposite. I’m just not a traditional fried chicken guy. But, I had to try what was being touted as “the best fried chicken on the beach.” I ordered the 3 pc Classic Original chicken meal and added a Custom Spicy drumstick to test it out.

When they brought out my order, I was greeted with an elegant presentation of fried chicken, mashed potatoes with gravy and seasoned green beans. The chicken skin seemed to me to be perfectly crunchy yet flakey and the meat was juicy, tender and full of flavor. I had ranch to supplement, but I didn’t need it.

The Spicy was hot, but not too hot. It was good, had zing and will be my pick next time, if I don’t get one of their Classic Burnout Burgers.

The famous motorcycle seat bar.

Maybe “famous” is stretching it a little, but besides their food, it’s all anyone talks about – so maybe not. The outside is accented with motorcycles and dedicated biker parking, but when you walk inside, you’re found with a whole motif that revolves around “custom cars, custom bikes, and all things cool,” said Knetzer.

“We have some motorcycles as seats at the bar [and]. . . If you look around you will notice everything from the 27 Ford T-Bucket hanging on the wall, the ‘hot rod hostess station’ which is made from a tool box, several car related signs through out, track lights made out of Fram oil filters, vintage car license plates, as well as art displayed throughout the restaurant,” added Knetzer.

The menu.

If you ask their wait staff what’s popular, they’ll tell you the chicken and their burgers.

Their Classic, Cheese and Bacon Cheese Burnout Burger is dressed in lettuce, tomato, onions and pickles and a variety of cheeses.

Their Custom Burnout Burgers:

Leadsled – ham, American cheese and bacon

Flame Thrower – pepperjack cheese, jalapeños, grilled onions, and peppers

Lowrider – white nacho cheese, chili, and pico de gallo

Sportster – cheddar cheese, grilled onions, and BBQ sauce

Shovelhead – provolone cheese, grilled mushrooms, and onions

Roadrunner – chicken breast and choice of cheese

And of course, they have a Challenger – which if you can finish (sides and all) in 14 minutes, you’ll get your picture on the wall and a free Challenger t-shirt. What are you eating? A Double Classic Burnout Burger with cheese.

You can view their entire menu here.

PCB Plaza Brings Private Office Space to the Small Business Owner

One of the things Panama City Beach has been lacking for a while is a cozy place for the super-small business (3 employees or less) to call home. The concept seems simple really, find a building, build some walls and rent out small private offices that include power and internet in the rent. Add flexible lease terms and a convenient location and you have a winner.

I’ve been working for myself for a long time and the need for a small, private place to work is something that has been hard to fill. Spending $800+ per month for a whole office in which much of the space will go unused is just silly. So you can see why the idea of a shared workspace works for me.

Yes, both PCBDaily and Panama City Beach Luxury Properties have a new home. 🙂 That’s our office up above.

The concept.

The whole idea revolves around the fact that people that own small businesses need a place to work but can’t afford to spend more than a couple hundred dollars. I’ve worked from home for a long time, but I’ve always had the need to meet clients, get away from the kids 🙂 , and store work crap.

The idea of a shared workspace isn’t new, though. Called Coworking, the concept has cropped up all over the world, centered around the creative industry since many of the “self-employed” in that industry are freelancers on a budget.

Although I wouldn’t call what’s at PCB Plaza Coworking, per se, it’s certainly an opportunity to have some private office space for a budget price.

Office for rent.

Originally there were about 8 spaces for rent there, but they’re currently expanding and building out a half dozen more spaces for rent. The private offices are a variety of 10×10′ and 10×20′ spaces. Many of them have outside doors and the rest have a shared hallway and common entry.

Pricing starts at $325 per month and includes power, internet, access to community kitchen and use of other common areas.

You can learn more about PCB Plaza on their website or just call Judy at 850-234-3629. Make sure you tell her you read about it on PCBDaily.com!

Location

PCB Plaza is located right on Back Beach Road, across from the Lyndell Shopping Plaza – actually, it’s directly across from the Centennial Bank on the end of the plaza. It’s an L shaped building that’s home to the Dream Day Spa.

The physical address is:

12118 Panama City Beach Parkway, PCB

Current list of tenants.

Right now there is a wide variety of business types in the “plaza” ranging from hair stylists, a car dealer, real estate agent, us :), a day spa and more. This particular type of working arrangement works really well for anyone that needs a small office space that private, quiet and centrally located.

Panama City Beach Luxury Properties and PCBDaily.com

You know who we are, but we occupy three spaces that have been combined into one long space. We are suite number 10 and 11 and we house our luxury vacation rental company and PCBDaily.com out of here.

Location: Suite 10/11

Click here to visit our website.

Lacey Belt, Coastal Concepts Realty

Lacey is a licensed Florida Realtor with Coastal Concepts Realty, whose other office is in Lynn Haven. They specialize in residential real estate sales including single family homes, condos, townhomes, and mobile homes. They have a knowledge and understanding of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae foreclosures, short sales, and regular sales!

Click here to visit her website.

Dream Day Spa

Dream Day Spa is a luxury spa in Panama City Beach that provides affordable skin care and pampering spa treatments. They offer massages, facials and more. They are in the end suite and are here Monday through Friday 10 am to 6 pm.

Location: End suite on the west side.

Click here to visit their website.

Randee Baker, Hair Stylist

Randee offers a variety of salon services ranging from color to cuts to customized styles. She offers a full range of foils, multi-dimensional coloring, designer cuts, and more.

Location: Suite 4

Randee is available by appointment only by calling 850-774-7323

Amber Hagan, Hair Stylist

Amber provides a salon experience where the client can enjoy personalized styles to fit his or her style and taste. She uses top of the line hair colors, and through years of experience can develop the perfect color for you. She specializes in foils, multi-dimensional coloring, designer cuts, and waxing for men and women.

Location: Suite 7

Amber is available by appointment only by calling 850-691-3376

Beach Boys Shuttle

Beach Boys Shuttle provides exceptional customer service. Our fleet of shuttles guarantees that you will travel with safety and convenience in Panama City Beach and surrounding areas. Our knowledgeable drivers are prompt and courteous. Also ask us about special airport discounts.

Location: Suite 8

Click here to visit their website, or call 850-238-5472.

JC’s Custom Services, Permanent Cosmetic Makeup

JC’s offers quality permanent cosmetics and scar camouflaging. Some of the things he can do include eyeliner, eyebrows, lipliner, blush, eye shadow, and lip color. He offers discounts on multiple procedures and a 25% discount to all military, government, city, and county workers.

They are available by appointment by calling 850-890-4686

Whataburger Opens in Panama City Beach

I know you’re mouth has been watering every time you’ve driven by the Whataburger that’s been under construction on Back Beach Road. And don’t pretend it’s not watering now, just thinking about it. They’ve been working on it for a couple months, and it finally opened last week.

It’s located right next to the new Hardee’s in one of the Lowe’s out parcels next to the Tom Thumb gas station. It’s in the southeast quadrant of the Alf Coleman and Panama City Beach Parkway (Back Beach Road) intersection.

The best part about this place is that it’s open 24 hours a day!

I ate there last week and was pleasantly surprised when they brought my food out to me and offered napkins and condiments right at my table. Not sure if that will last forever, but I sure enjoyed it! And the burger was awesome.

New Walmart Starts Construction

Jason Koertge has an awesome vacation rental business in Panama City Beach that focuses on remarkable properties right on the gulf. They range from 1 to 4 bedrooms, they’re clean, and amazing. He can be found lurking at PCBLP.com.

The new Walmart being installed next to Pier Park has begun construction as of yesterday. Located right next door to Target, across from Powell Adams Road, an official “designation” is still unclear, but it’s certain to have grocery. We recently discussed the site plans that were clear that it would not only include grocery, but a full bakery section, deli (with display coolers), fresh produce, garden center, and other general areas you’d expect to find in a Walmart.

We do know that this Walmart will be 156,000 square feet, which is 70% of the size of the Super Walmart to the east of this one.

What they’ll be doing first.

In preparation for the general construction, they’ve got to level out the land and get everything ready for the giant slab that we’ll walk on as we shop for the next umpteen years. If you remember, there is a huge sand hill that’s been there for years, capturing the tires of renegade wannabe off-roaders that have bravely attempted to traverse it’s heights. Yes, even my own brother got stuck in that hill, before he had four wheel drive.

They’ll be putting up perimeter fencing to help protect our eyes from the menacing construction equipment and keep the kids out and installing a central construction trailer to manage day to day operations.

Construction timeline and property details.

At this point, the construction timeline is still projected to be right at 12 months. I would think they would want to get this done by next spring season, or at the latest, next summer season. We’ll keep an eye on things as it progresses.

There will be out parcels along Panama City Beach Parkway (Back Beach Road), three entry points on Powell Adams Road and one entry point on Back Beach Road.

Powell Adams Road improvements.

One of the more controversial elements to this development, interestingly enough, has been the improvements to Powell Adams Road. Many of the Walmart Opposition Party have contended that if something goes in that requires improvements to the road, they should have to pay for it, not the taxpayer.

Powell Adams Road is on the schedule for the CRA improvement treatment plan in the next couple years, and the Walmart development has put these improvements on the fast track. The cool thing about this is that the City was going to fund this entirely, originally, and it wasn’t going to happen for at least 2 more years. But, since Walmart is coming, and the improvements are needed in order to meet the requirements that will come with the increased traffic, Walmart is partially funding this improvement project.

The improvements will be on Powell Adams Road and go back to LC Hilton Drive (the road you can take to Miracle Strip and the center round about.

Why Walmart paying just a portion is more than fair.

The way this was explained to me was that Walmart is paying for the improvements that they would need and the City is paying for the improvements that are above and beyond that which would bring them up to the CRA standards (think curbs, sidewalks, decorative street lighting, and landscaping).

You see, if Walmart put in the baseline improvements that were needed in order to accomodate the traffic increase that would come with it’s development, we’d get signalization and a wider road out of the deal, at no cost. But the beautification that comes with the CRA treatment would not happen, and the potential cost down the road when the City got to this portion of the improvement schedule would be proportionally higher.

BUT, by just “charging” Walmart the cost is would be for the improvements they need to make, and the City paying for the other improvement elements that come with the normal CRA improvements, we save money (because we’re not paying for the baseline improvements) and we get the beautification much earlier than expected (literally by years).

So, in my eyes, it’s a win-win. What do you think? Comment below. 😉

Walmart Plans Moving Forward

With a ground-breaking date still having not been announced, the plans for the whole development have been released for bid. The plans are telling as to the type of store we’ll see and it’s nothing short of exciting for me!

With the Target renovations coming online in the next few days, the new Walmart will definitely give them a run for the money, when they get opened.

Remember, the original projections for the new Walmart predict a ground breaking this spring and about a 12 month construction time. However, as of this post, there hasn’t been any dirt moved yet.

What the plans tell us.

The plans that are available tell us everything from the orientation of the building to the types of sections that exist in side.

Looking at the plans, we have reason to expect the general look and feel will be consistent with Pier Park. We already know the size of the store will be around 70% the size of the Walmart Super Center at the intersection of Middle Beach and Front Beach Roads, or 156,000 square feet.

Looking at the plans, we see a full bakery section, deli (with display coolers), fresh produce, garden center, and other general areas you’d expect to find in a Walmart.

So far, it is looking like an exact replica of the other Walmart, just smaller.

Seahaven Beach Break’s Ground On A New Phase

If you’ve driven down Front Beach Road near Origin at Seahaven, you no doubt noticed all the ground that is being turned up. We’ve had a lot of inquires as to what it could be (no, it is not another Walmart). In fact, Seahaven Beach Resorts is beginning it’s first phase of a new Village and Streetscape plan, starting with the large parking lot. The new plan will add that much-needed parking as well as a lineup of choice retail spots that will line the roadside with storefronts.

This addition to the resort should help tie it in with Pier Park and create an even stronger pull for what has become Panama City Beach’s busiest area.

If you are interested in retail space or have additional inquiries, head over to Seahaven Beach Resorts

Hardee’s on the Beach Opens Monday

If you’re a fan of their heart-attack inducing Thickburgers or their delicious breakfast items, crave no more and forget about the long drive. The first Hardee’s (so far as I know) ever is opening on Panama City Beach on Monday.

Grant it, they’re not some quaint mom-and-pop shop, or some individualistic beach novelty, but they are Hardee’s, and we don’t have one. And now we will!

So, grab your appetite, head over Monday and pick up a Cinnamon ‘n Raisin Biscuit for breakfast, a tasty Mushroom Swiss Thickburger for lunch, but eat some fresh vegetables for dinner.

The new Hardee’s is located just to the east of the Tom Thumb gas station at the same corner as Lowe’s, right on Panama City Beach Parkway (Back Beach Road). The nearest major intersection is PCB Parkway and R Jackson Blvd (formally Beckrich).

Boardwalk RV Park Zone Change Application Withdrawn

In what could seem like a temporary victory to the current (and concerned) property owners at Boardwalk Beach Resort, the developer requesting a zone change to allow an RV park has withdrawn his application. Whether you love RV’s or hate them, allowing them on a gulf front property such as this was a potential precedence that was concerning to local property owners.

The application would have changed the zoning from T-2 to T-M, allowing the property to be used for mobile homes, travel trailers, motor homes, motels, hotels, condos, town homes, apartments, churches, clubs, lodges, parking lots, parking garages and mobile home sales.

Working through the education of this matter, it was made clear how concerned people were about this. While there were some that believed this was a great idea, there were many that were in opposition of this change.

Here were some of the comments we saw.

The Developer had a vision in 2003 – 4 Luxury hi-rise condo buildings with world class amenities. . . Now the same Developer – Royal American Development Inc. . . has a new vision – let’s put a low investment mobile / RV park and trailer storage facility next to this luxury condo to at least generate some income. The obvious result will be lower property values in this “mixed use” scenario resulting in lower property taxes collected and lower sales tax revenues for the governmental entities. . . The developer also owns most of the amenities seaward of the building’s footprint, the fitness center and the condo commercial space on the 1st floor of Boardwalk Central. How will the Boardwalk owner keep the “trailer people” from over-running our amenities? ~ Jim Vider

There is no distinction for a “high end” luxury motorhome park in the licensing application for travel trailer parks. Any size or type of trailer can and will be allowed in here. The market will decide that. Once the zoning is changed the parcel can be sold or leased (it’s more valuable now) and all the slick marketing materials and promises won’t prevent it from turning into a field of BBQs, barking dogs, lawn chairs and clotheslines. ~ STL

The area the developer wants rezoned was to be phase 2 of the project. I certainly can understand the cash pinch the developer has, but lowering the value of properties owed in Boardwalk Central as well as Top of the Gulf through the creation of a “campground” is outrageous. ~ Bill

Excellent use for this parcel of land, as homeowners a luxury RV resort adds more value than a vacant construction lot and puts more occupancy tax into town too! Great idea, move forward without delay! ~ Cat

I think this is a fabulous idea. It seems to me that some of the people commenting on here and the one owner that was interviewed on TV have no concept of a luxury motorcoach or RV. . . I applaud this development group for actually trying to go down another avenue that is a win win for both them and our local economy. . . Are we really going to argue that this developer SHOULD build another condo. . . Have we learned nothing from the past 4 years? ~ Gilly